The Effect of Migration on Government Size Case study: Some Selected Middle-East Countries

Neda Samiei, Mohammad Reza Jalilvand

Abstract

Migration is caused by a push from behind and/or a pull from an appealing prospect in front.The combination of push and pull factors and research into which specific determinants play a significant role in migration patterns has received a lot of attention in the empirical literature. Immigration is the main demographic factor and the government is supposed to have the ability to control its size and skill composition.In high income countries natural population growth nowadays is low (or negative) and overall population growth is mostly driven by immigration. A statistically significant role of migration in affecting the tax rate is found after controlling for income inequality and for several social and demographic variables that would be expected to reflect the government‘s revenue needs and thus determine the tax rate. The aim of the present study is to examine if and how much the amount of public expenditures on social services has been affected by the migration among some Middle East countries over 1990-2007. Key words: Migration; Government size; Middle-East

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